EP3689192B1 - Drinking lid for a drinking container, and drinking container having such a lid - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a drinking attachment for a drinking vessel and a drinking vessel, such as in particular a drinking bottle or a drinking cup, with such an attachment, the drinking attachment allowing drinking from the drinking vessel without having to remove the drinking attachment from the vessel.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Drinking attachments of the type in question have long been known in the most varied of forms and regularly fulfill a double function: on the one hand, they enable a user to consume a liquid contained in a drinking vessel provided with such a drinking attachment, usually by gently sucking it in, and on the other hand, prevent it Depending on the design, they leak or at least sloshing out of the liquid from the drinking vessel. For this purpose, they regularly have at least one outlet for a liquid located in the drinking vessel, which at least hinders the unimpeded outflow of liquid from the drinking vessel, and a fastening section for attaching the drinking attachment to an edge region of the drinking vessel surrounding an opening of the drinking vessel, e.g. for screwing the drinking attachment onto or into a thread formed on the drinking vessel. Like the drinking attachment claimed here, they often also include a sealing element for sealing the outlet.

While such drinking attachments and drinking vessels provided with them were previously only used by certain groups of people or for certain purposes, e.g. by cyclists in the form of sports drinking bottles, in the hospital and care sector in the form of sippy cups and by parents for feeding babies and toddlers in the form of bottles with pacifier attachment, have been reusable in recent years, also from an environmental point of view Drinking vessels, especially in the form of thermos mugs, are constantly growing in popularity, since more and more people do not want to forego the enjoyment of cold or warm drinks during activities such as driving a car or shopping.

A special category among the drinking attachments, in which the drinking attachment according to the invention also falls, are the so-called 360 ° drinking attachments, which are sometimes referred to as "non-spill drinking devices" and which do not require elements such as spouts, pacifiers and beaks and which allow a user make it possible to drink from a normal cup at any point along a rotating drinking wheel (which is where the name 360 ° drinking attachment comes from). Such drinking attachments are, for example, from the WO 2015 057871 A1 and the EP 2 265 152 B1 known.

With such 360 ° drinking attachments, the drinking vessels provided with them can be used practically like normal cups, i.e. when drinking, the user brings the drinking rim to his mouth like the rim of a cup and then holds the drinking vessel at an angle. In this case, liquid from the drinking vessel enters an intermediate space between the drinking rim and an elastic, so-called sealing disk, which rests against the drinking rim in the area of its free end and which lifts off the drinking rim when the user sucks lightly on it, so that the liquid out of the drinking vessel which can enter the mouth of the user.

Drinking vessels with 360 ° drinking attachments are often used to accustom children who have just left infancy to the use of normal cups, since the movement sequences of bringing the drinking vessel to the mouth and holding it at an angle to drink it are the same as with a normal cup without it Are drinking attachments, but there is practically no risk of spillage.

The two publications mentioned EP 2 265 152 B1 and WO 2015 057871 A1 each teach different configurations of drinking attachments, each having a substantially funnel-like circumferential drinking rim which is at least partially open towards the drinking vessel, with a fastening section for attaching the drinking attachment to an opening of a drinking vessel surrounding an opening The edge area of the drinking vessel and an essentially elastic, so-called sealing disk, which can be inserted into the drinking rim, for sealing the drinking rim, the sealing disc in the region of the free end of the drinking rim rests against the drinking rim with the formation of an interspace open towards the drinking vessel and is designed so that it can be partially lifted from the drinking rim by a suction action of a user of the drinking attachment in order to open up a passage to the intermediate space. It should be noted at this point that the sealing disk is usually referred to as a disk, but is actually mostly bowl-shaped in order to partially follow the shape of the funnel-like drinking rim, but has a bottom that is closed towards the drinking vessel.

In most of the embodiments shown by the two cited publications, the drinking rim has a base which partially closes the opening of the drinking vessel and which is provided with a number of perforations in its rim area in order to allow liquid to escape from the drinking vessel in a throttled manner. The sealing washer is connected to the outside of the bottom facing away from the drinking vessel, typically by means of a central mushroom-shaped punch on the bottom and an opening in the elastic sealing washer, which is dimensioned so that it is pulled by elastic deformation over a punch head protruding from a cylindrical punch stem and then lies tightly against the stamp stem. Alternatively, the sealing disk can also be provided with a mushroom-shaped stamp which is inserted through a central opening in the base.

The edge of the sealing washer is from the EP 2 265 152 B1 and from the WO 2015 057871 A1 known drinking attachments designed so that its outermost part lies close to the drinking rim, but moves further and further away from the drinking rim towards the openings in the bottom of the drinking rim, so that the gap is formed in which liquid can get.

However, it has been shown that children often play with the sealing washer and pull it off the floor so that liquid can then escape from the drinking vessel largely unhindered. To partially solve this problem, the WO 2015 057871 A1 an embodiment which discloses the preamble of claim 1 and in which the Sealing washer in the area of its bottom has an outwardly projecting circumferential flange, which is designed to come to rest on the edge surrounding the opening of the drinking vessel in order to be clamped there by means of a clamping flange protruding from the drinking edge to the sealing washer. In order to continue to allow the passage of liquid to the intermediate space in this embodiment, both flanges have openings which have to be aligned with one another during assembly. It has been shown that the alignment of the openings in both flanges, which is necessary after each cleaning of the drinking attachment, is extremely laborious and is often not carried out with the necessary precision, so that the openings only partially overlap and liquid is throttled too much when drinking. Users therefore try to avoid dismantling the drinking attachment, although this would be desirable to achieve optimal cleaning results.

Another problem is the supply of air into the drinking vessel when drinking. If liquid is withdrawn, then air must be able to flow into the drinking vessel in order to prevent the creation of a negative pressure in the drinking vessel which hinders the removal of liquid. For this purpose, the known drinking attachments usually have incisions, which, however, are not optimal in various respects. The making of incisions requires at least one additional processing step and the incisions do not open until a certain negative pressure is reached, so that a certain pulsation of the liquid flow can occur when the liquid is withdrawn.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The invention is based on the object of specifying a 360 ° drinking attachment with improved properties in which, in particular, assembly is simplified after the drinking attachment has been cleaned.

The object is achieved by a drinking attachment with the features of claim 1. The independent claim 13 relates to a drinking vessel with such a drinking attachment.

In particular, when the opening of the drinking vessel that is to be provided with a drinking attachment according to the invention has a larger diameter, it is advantageous to assemble the drinking rim from two or more separate parts. This makes it possible to use different materials for the fastening section and a drinking section which comes into contact with the mouth of a user when drinking, and in particular to choose a stiffer material for the fastening section than for the drinking section, which can lead to a more pleasant drinking experience. The invention advantageously allows the person skilled in the art to choose the configuration that is optimally adapted to the respective customer requirements.

The invention has the advantage, among other things, that when assembling the sealing washer and the drinking rim it is not necessary to pay attention to a special alignment of the components with respect to one another. In addition, the production is simplified since, according to the invention, the clamping flange does not have to be provided with openings, which also has cost advantages.

In a preferred embodiment, the sealing washer is provided with a number of stiffening ribs provided between the openings, which has several advantages. The stiffening ribs stiffen the sealing washer, which is typically made of a soft material such as silicone, in the area of the flange, so that it sits stably between the upper edge of the opening of the drinking vessel and the clamping flange after being clamped and cannot be easily pulled out. Depending on the design of the stiffening ribs, these can also provide additional form-fitting support for the sealing disk on the inside of the drinking vessel. For this purpose, the ribs are preferably arranged on the side of the sealing disk facing the drinking vessel in the intended assembly state.

In order to prevent a negative pressure from developing in the drinking vessel when drinking, which prevents further liquid from escaping, the drinking attachment can be provided with means that automatically ensure a subsequent flow of air from a certain negative pressure, e.g. a slot seal formed in the bottom of the sealing disc. In particularly preferred embodiments, an air inlet passage is formed between the drinking rim and the sealing disk. These The air inlet passage can in particular be formed in the area of the sealing disk which rests circumferentially against the free end of the drinking rim. If the fastening section has an internal thread for screwing onto a corresponding external thread of a drinking vessel, an air inlet passage can alternatively or additionally also be formed between the external thread and the internal thread.

The optional air inlet passages between the drinking rim and the sealing washer and / or between the external thread and the internal thread can be provided, for example, as a circumferential thread groove or circumferential thread protrusion or as a so-called labyrinth or gap seal and are designed so that air can always pass through, beverages such as water, tea But not milk. Labyrinth or thread turns lengthen the flow path and thereby increase the flow resistance, so that although air can flow into the drinking vessel, liquid which is more viscous than air cannot escape via the air inlet passages between the threads. Incidentally, it goes without saying that the passages referred to here as air inlet passages can advantageously also allow air to escape from the vessel in order to prevent overpressure in the vessel, for example after filling hot drinks or when taking the filled vessel into the mountains .

Further details and advantages of the invention emerge from the following, purely exemplary and non-limiting description of an exemplary embodiment in conjunction with the drawing comprising six figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

Fig. 1

shows a sectional view through a drinking attachment not according to the invention on a drinking vessel in the assembled state.

Fig. 2

shows a plan view of the side of the sealing disk of the drinking attachment facing the drinking vessel in the intended assembly state Fig. 1 .

Fig. 3

shows schematically the flow processes when using the drinking attachment according to FIG Fig. 1 .

Fig. 4

shows a section similar Fig. 1 by an embodiment of a drinking attachment in which the fastening section and the drinking rim are designed in two parts according to the invention.

Fig. 5

shows an embodiment of a sealing washer according to the invention in side view.

Fig. 6

shows the sealing washer according to Fig. 5 in a perspective view at an angle from below.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Fig. 1 shows a section through a drinking attachment not according to the invention, designated in its entirety by 10, and the upper section of a corresponding drinking vessel 12, here in the form of a drinking bottle, which is provided with an external thread on its edge area surrounding the opening, onto which the drinking attachment 10 in the state shown is screwed on. For this purpose, the drinking attachment 10 has a drinking rim 14 with a fastening section 16 with an internal thread that is partially complementary to the external thread of the drinking bottle 12.

In this drinking attachment, the fastening section 16 merges into an integrally molded, funnel-like drinking section 18 that is open towards the drinking vessel.

A substantially bowl-shaped elastic sealing washer 20 is inserted into the drinking rim 14 and rests circumferentially against the drinking rim 14, more precisely the drinking section 18 in the region of its free end, forming an intermediate space 22 open towards the drinking vessel 12. The term “free end” is understood here to mean the end or the end region which faces the user when it is mounted on a drinking vessel.

The sealing disk 20 is designed in a manner known per se so that it can be partially lifted off the drinking rim 14 or the drinking section 18 by a suction action by a user of the drinking attachment, so that a passage to the intermediate space 22 is opened up for the user. This lifting is facilitated by a number of knobs 24 which, in this drinking attachment, are formed on the side of the sealing disk 20 facing the drinking section 18. It goes without saying that these knobs can also be formed on the drinking rim or drinking section. Instead of knobs, other suitable spacers can also be molded on, e.g. short rib-like projections.

The sealing disk 20 also has a circumferential flange 26 which protrudes outward in the area of its bottom and is designed to come to rest on the edge surrounding the opening of the drinking vessel 12. This flange 26 is provided with a number of openings 28 which connect the intermediate space 22 to the interior 30 of the drinking vessel 12.

The flange 26 cooperates with a circumferential clamping flange 32 which protrudes from the drinking rim 14 to the sealing disk 20 in the transition area between the fastening section 16 and the drinking section 18. The clamping flange 32 can be integrally formed on the drinking section 18 or on the fastening section 16, or it can be present as a component arranged between the fastening section 16 and the drinking section 18.

A special feature is that this clamping flange 32 ends in front of the openings 28 provided in the flange 26 of the sealing disk 20 and thus does not hinder the passage of liquid from the drinking vessel 12 through the openings 28 into the intermediate space 22 and from there into the user's mouth when drinking . The sealing disk can also be inserted into the drinking rim 14 without having to pay attention to a special alignment of the openings 28 with any openings on the drinking rim side. When the drinking attachment 10 is screwed onto the drinking vessel 12, the sealing disk 20 is then reliably secured by means of the clamping flange 32.

In this drinking attachment, the sealing washer 20 also has a number of stiffening ribs 34, which are formed in the bottom area of the sealing washer 20, that they lie between two openings 28 in each case. The stiffening ribs 34 have the advantageous effect that even if, for example, children play with the sealing disk 20 while drinking, it cannot simply be pulled out of the clamping between the clamping flange 32 and the upper edge of the opening of the drinking vessel 12.

The Fig. 2 shows a top view of the side of the sealing washer 20 facing the interior of a drinking vessel in the intended assembly state. The spacers formed as knobs 24 and the openings 28 formed in the flange 26 as well as the stiffening ribs 34 formed on the sealing washer 20 can be clearly seen, for reasons For the sake of clarity, only a few of the knobs, the openings and the stiffening ribs have been provided with reference numerals. Depending on the design of the drinking attachment, it is advisable to provide the central area 36 of the sealing disc 20 with a slot seal, ie to cut it obliquely or stepped in such a way that a slot is formed between two slot tabs that is closed in the basic state, but through which, if When drinking, a negative pressure is created inside the vessel because liquid is withdrawn and air can flow in because the slit flaps open. In the exemplary embodiments shown here, however, the subsequent flow of air into the interior of the vessel is ensured by an air inlet passage which acts in the manner of a labyrinth seal and which will be described below.

In the Fig. 3 are a drinking attachment 10 and part of a drinking vessel 12 according to Fig. 1 shown in a drinking situation. Not shown is a user who can easily remove the same from the drinking rim 14 by sucking gently in the area of the section 40 of the sealing washer 20, and then holding the liquid at an angle through the openings 28 in the flange 26 of the sealing washer 20 into the space 22 as indicated by the arrow 42 indicated and can get from there into the mouth of a user. In order to prevent a negative pressure from occurring in the drinking vessel, which would hinder the escape of liquid, the internal thread of the drinking rim 14 is designed in such a way that an air inlet passage acting like a labyrinth seal results between the internal thread and the external thread of the drinking vessel 12, through which, as indicated by arrow 44 indicated air can flow into the vessel without the risk that the compared to air liquid with a higher viscosity could escape. The arrow is to be understood as a schematic explanation. In fact, the air can follow the thread between the external and internal threads, which are designed in such a way that their mutual flanks do not mesh with one another in a completely sealing manner.

In the Fig. 4 FIG. 13 is an embodiment of a drinking attachment designated in its entirety by 10 'in a sectional view analogous to the representation of FIG Fig. 1 shown in the mounted on a drinking vessel 12 state. The sealing disk 20 corresponds to the sealing disk described above, so that a renewed description of the same can be dispensed with. Significant difference to the in Fig. 1 The drinking attachment shown is the two-part design of the drinking rim 14 ', in which the fastening section 16' and the drinking section 18 'are formed by two separate components which are latched together in this exemplary embodiment, for which the drinking section 18' is a receptacle for the attachment section 16 ' molded clamping flange 32 'which encompasses the same to such an extent that part of the drinking section 18' lies between the clamping flange 32 'and the flange 26 of the sealing washer 20 when the sealing washer 20 is inserted into the drinking rim 14' as intended. This embodiment advantageously allows a different material to be selected for the drinking section 18 ', in particular a softer material than for the fastening section 16', which can lead to a particularly pleasant drinking experience.

In the Figures 5 and 6 a further exemplary embodiment of a sealing washer 20 ′ according to the invention is shown, which essentially corresponds to the sealing washer 20 already described above, so that a detailed repetition of the corresponding description can be dispensed with. This sealing washer also has a number of stiffening ribs 34 ', a flange 26' in which a number of openings 28 'are formed, as well as knobs 24', which lift the in the intended assembly state against the drinking rim in the area of its free end favor the adjacent sealing washer area.

A special feature of this exemplary embodiment is the thread 46 provided here in the area of the sealing washer which, in the intended assembly state, rests circumferentially against the free end of the drinking rim Forms air inlet passage and by lengthening the flow path enables air to flow into and out of the drinking vessel, but liquids cannot escape from the vessel via the passage formed in this way. The thread 46 can be designed as a circumferential thread groove or as a circumferential thread projection. In contrast, the area of the drinking rim against which the thread 46 rests is smooth. It goes without saying that instead of the thread 46 shown, threads in the manner of a labyrinth or otherwise shaped threads can also be provided, as long as they achieve the desired effect. An advantage of the air inlet passages formed in this way is that they can be generated directly during the production of the sealing disks or, if an air inlet passage is provided between an external thread of a drinking vessel and an internal thread of a fastening section, during the production of the vessel and / or fastening section, without it would require a separate processing or manufacturing step.

Within the scope of the concept of the invention, numerous modifications and developments are possible, e.g. relating to the design of the clamping flange on the drinking rim and the flange on the sealing washer. Instead of the round openings shown, elongated slotted openings can also be provided in the flange of the sealing disk. Instead of the stiffening ribs shown, it is also possible to provide a circumferential bead and then to make openings in the same to the space between the sealing disk and the drinking section.

REFERENCE LIST

10, 10 '

Drinking attachment

12th

Drinking vessel

14, 14 '

Drinking rim

16, 16 '

Fastening section

18, 18 '

Drinking section

20.20 '

Sealing washer

22nd

Space

24.22 '

Nub

26.26 '

flange

28.28 '

opening

30th

Vessel interior

32, 32 '

Clamping flange

34.34 '

Stiffening rib

36

central area of the sealing washer

40

Section of the sealing washer

42

Flow arrow

44

Flow arrow

46

Thread (air inlet passage)

Claims (13)

1. Drinking attachment (10) for drinking vessels (12) comprising

   - a funnel-like circumferential drinking rim (14), which is open towards the drinking vessel (12), having an fastening section (16) for fastening the drinking attachment (10) to an edge region of the drinking vessel (12) surrounding an opening (28) of a drinking vessel (12), and

   - a bowl-shaped elastic sealing disc (20), which can be inserted into the drinking rim (14) to seal the drinking rim (14),

   - wherein the sealing disc (20) abuts circumferentially against the drinking rim (14) in the region of the end of the drinking rim (14), which is free in the intended mounting state of the drinking attachment 10) on a drinking vessel (12), forming an interstice (22) open towards the drinking vessel (12), and is formed so that it can be partially lifted from the drinking rim (14) by a suction action of a user of the drinking attachment (10) in order to open a passage to the interstice (22),

   - wherein the sealing disc (20) in the area of its bottom has an outwardly projecting circumferential flange (26), which is designed to come to rest on the edge surrounding the opening (28) of the drinking vessel (12), and

   - wherein the drinking rim (14) is provided with a clamping flange (32) projecting towards the sealing disc (20) to clamp the flange (26) of the sealing disc (20) against the rim of the opening (28) of the drinking vessel (12) when attaching the drinking attachment (10) to a drinking vessel (12),

   - wherein the flange (26) of the sealing disc (20) is provided with a number of openings to the interstice (22), and

   - wherein the drinking rim (14') consists of at least two separate components (16', 18'), one of which forms the fastening section (16'), characterized in that the clamping flange (32) ends in front of the openings provided in the flange (26) of the sealing disc (20).
2. The drinking attachment (10) according to claim 1, characterized in that the sealing disc (20) is provided with stiffening ribs (34) provided between the openings.
3. The drinking attachment (10) according to claim 2, characterized in that the stiffening ribs (34) are arranged on the side of the sealing disc (20) facing the drinking vessel (12) in the intended mounting state.
4. The drinking attachment (10) according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the drinking rim (14') has a drinking section (18') made of silicone, TPE, TPU or PP.
5. The drinking attachment (10) according to claim 4, characterized in that the fastening section (16') is made of a material having a higher stiffness than the drinking section (18').
6. The drinking attachment (10) according to any of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the sealing disc (20) is made of silicone.
7. The drinking attachment (10) according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that an air inlet passage (46) is formed between the drinking rim (14) and the sealing disc (20).
8. The drinking attachment (10) according to claim 7, characterized in that the air inlet passage (46) between the drinking rim (14) and the sealing disc (20) is formed in the region of the sealing disc (20'), which abuts circumferentially against the free end of the drinking rim (14).
9. The drinking attachment (10) according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the fastening section (16) has an internal thread for being screwed onto a corresponding external thread of a drinking vessel (12).
10. The drinking attachment (10) according to claim 9, characterized in that the fastening section (16) is designed in such a way that an air inlet passage (44) is formed between the external thread and the internal thread.
11. The drinking attachment (10) according to one of claims 7, 8 or 10, characterized in that the air inlet passage (46) between the drinking rim (14) and the sealing disc (20) and/or the air inlet passage (44) between the external thread and the internal thread is/are constructed in the form of a circumferential thread or as a gap-type or labyrinth-type seal.
12. The drinking attachment (10) according to one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that the sealing disc (20) has a slot-type seal in the region of its bottom.
13. Drinking vessel (12) with a drinking attachment (10) according to any of claims 1 to 12.

Images